A Roosters Tale

Thank You Father for My wife, my family and life with You. 

The picture is of a plaque I made for Jackie. And I created the following story for all to enjoy. Merry Christmas! 
 

Hello my name is Road Island Red. People call me Red for short.  I live in Cluckingham Palace where I get to be the head honcho. There are 12 other hens here with me, so I’m in my prime. My roost is high above in the coop. 

   The sun was starting to rise on this beautiful summer morning and I found myself with the urge to belt out load how I felt. It was awesome, I crowed at the top of my lungs and of course the sleeping girls were mumbling to each other about how much my voice crackled and sounded like a young teenager. 

   Well that did it; I was not going to put up with being ridiculed by a bunch of mumbling hens. I headed out into the barnyard and found myself a perch on top of the cedar rail fence. I cocked my head here and then there and could tell that there was not much happening yet. The barn doors were closed, and the piglets were cuddled up into their mom for warmth.  I thought for a moment about how they loved the mud and would push it around with their snouts, dirty pigs!

   I closed my eyes allowing the peace and quiet to sink in. I was mumbling to myself when suddenly the cabin door flew open and out came farmer Bob along with Rusty and Beauty. Those two dogs thought they ruled the whole farm. Ha! He was whistling some familiar tune that I could not quite make out. The dogs were already sniffing around and I could hear rustling in the barn as it came to life at the sound of him heading their way. “Hey!" They seemed to like his song, more than mine. Well I would just fly down and get in his way. That’ll fix him. Go figure, he did not miss a note as he shuffled me aside. 

    As the large barn door slid open, the morning light flooded the inside, revealing the sounds from within. Out came the ducks, who went straight to mingling with the hens, followed by the goats, a couple of cows and the two beautiful work horses. They were so tall and walked with such grace. There was a lot of stretching and morning gabble going on. The way everyone carried on, you would have thought they had never seen each other before. The smell of their meals being prepared only added to the excitement of the barnyard. They all loved getting their favorite meals and showed respect by waiting patiently for their turns to come. I could see Jackie coming out and heading towards the hen house. She was always happy and well dressed. “A good ol working gal.”  

   From where I was perched I could see clearly the incident about to happen. Those 2 silly dogs were chasing the ducks, and unbeknownst to them they were heading towards a collision with Mama. With my head tilted to one side I could see those ducks head right under her dress almost tripping her. The dogs stopped dead in their tracks as Mama peered through her bonnet at them. She then lifted the edge of her dress, she said “Git now!” The piglets were already waiting for her, wiggling their tiny curly tails as she dumped the table scraps into their trough along with a few scoops of feed. “That’s a good piggy” she said. As they happily snorted and grunted with their pink wet snouts buried in the slop.

   Continuing on, she called out “good morning girls” as she greeted the hens and ducks. They returned the greeting with upright waddles and wiggling tails. I tried to get her attention by strutting my stuff with a cool smarmy walk. Looking over my shoulder to see who was looking, I stumbled and lost my balance landing face first into the pig muck. I could hear the chuckles as I quickly jumped up and gathered my dignity. No one really cared or asked how I was, for their interest was on food and following closely to mama’s every step.

   The Hens and ducks did not want to wait; nudging each other at the feeder as she gladly poured the seed around their nibbling beaks. And she smiled, as she rinsed their water bowls, thinking about the joy she got from just to be in among them, she placed the freshly filled bowls on the ground. She then raked the sand pits, cleaned up the play area and left a few hanging treats. Grabbing the basket of fresh eggs, she looked around to where those two scraggily dogs were and headed for the cabin.  

   Meanwhile Papa was filling the cows and goat’s troughs with corn meal. The horses enjoyed a mixture of grains and barley. And then they all gathered around the hay bin to enjoy the roughage and the pleasant company of each other. After that embarrassing fall, I began my smarmy walk again and headed into the barn to take a gander at what was going on. Everyone was so engaged in their meals that they did not notice the mouse running across the floor. 

   "Ooooooh baby, this is perfect!" Cocking my head to and fro, I honed in on the quick movements of the mouse. It was not going to get away that easy. With a stretched neck, I began chasing the little fella in and out of the seed bags and around the hay bales. I had him now! He was cornered, just a few more steps and, he would be mine! I knew he was right around the edge of this box; all I needed to do was leap forward and Oh no! I ran right into the big black wet nose of Beauty. I was so wrapped up in my chase that I had not noticed the dog was stocking me. Time To Run!

   And run I did! Neck forward and wings flapping I ran full bore out into the barnyard. I did not know if the dog was chasing me or not, I just ran. Around the pigs trough, under the fence, I headed for mamas protection, she was hanging clothes on the string. I had one chance and that was to blow by her skirt. I thought that by getting her attention the dog might stop chasing me. She yelled out “What the?” “Stupid Rooster!” Still running I tried to look over my shoulder, it was hard to see with a cocked head. I made it to the top fence post and gasping for air; I looked and the dog was not even there. I had been running for nothing. Maybe that is why I’m a chicken. 

   As I caught my breath I watched mama beat the broom against the rug hanging on the clothes line. After a while of watching her, I thought, beating a rug like that seems to me to be a pretty useless waste of energy. There was dust and she was out of breath; whatever had the rug done to deserve such a beating? I was exhausted from all the excitement, maybe I’ll grab a few winks while sitting here on the cedar rail fence. 

   I do not know how long I was out but I was suddenly aroused by the thundering clap of lightning.  The winds had picked up, the sky was no longer blue and sun filled. The dark billowing clouds had rolled in as the lightning flashed among them. Papa and mama were closing up the barn and hen house.

   What about me? I had to move fast or else I was going to be stranded. As I ran towards the closing door, the lighting lit up the sky with a humongous bang; I was confused and did not know which way to go. I could hear mamas voice calling out “Come on Red” “Get in here”. Darting past her I ran head first into a beam.

   As my eye’s made their way open I could hear the ladies mumbling and giggling. “Red’s done it again!” “Knocked himself out in a fit of craziness.” “Maybe this time he will learn that strutting your stuff and thinking that he is the king of the palace, will get you nowhere with the ladies.”

   Once on my feet again, I went into my proud stance, standing tall, and stretching. I shook off the dust and perched himself on the high post. Clearing my throat; I called out with a squeaky rough crow “I am the king of Cluckingham Palace.” 

No one really paid too much attention to my repeated caws. The ladies went about gabbling to each other, pecking and scrapping the ground and life around the farm.
    Road Island Red, “Red for short” continued on strutting his stuff with smarmy walks and a head that cocked back and forth. He was a good looking fella, who watched over the hen house proudly.   
  
  
Merry 2020 Christmas.